


Nightmare

by thatwriterlady



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attraction, Brave Dean Winchester, F/F, Halloween, M/M, Monsters, Police Sheriff Dean Winchester, Scared Castiel, Scary, School Principal Castiel, Teleportation, corn maze
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27357298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwriterlady/pseuds/thatwriterlady
Summary: Dean lets Charlie and Gilda drag him to an Autumn festival and for the most part, it's really fun. There's haunted houses, wagon rides, pumpkins and of course, a corn maze. On a dare he decides to take the "nightmare" path while they took the easy one. He figured he'd get through it and come out the other side ready to brag that he'd won that dare. It was going to be something he could rub in Charlie's face later, and he figured it couldn't be that scary. He had no idea what he was in for.This maze was going to be killer.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Charlie Bradbury/Gilda
Comments: 22
Kudos: 72





	1. The Maze

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! So I wrote this one MONTHS ago, but I was saving it for Halloween. Then my daughter decided we were taking a trip up to Chicago, and that took up my time. I just got back yesterday and I was cold and tired, so posting was the last thing on my mind. But I'm posting it today, and I really hope you like it. It's just the right amount of Halloween scary, and I hope you get a few chills reading it. Enjoy!

Dean popped another piece of candy corn in his mouth as he followed Charlie and Gilda into the fairgrounds. Charlie was paying which was the only reason he’d come. Well, that and it gave him a chance to get out of the house. She was pointing at the fun house while Gilda was saying she wanted to go on a haunted hayride. While they argued he took a moment to look around. It looked pretty cool. There were pumpkins literally _everywhere_ but there were vendors selling all sorts of stuff. The pumpkin butter interested him. He wanted to buy at least one jar of that before he left.

There were rides, mostly for the little kids but there were a ferris wheel and a couple of roller coasters. He was wary of carnival rides. Too many of them collapsed. Scanning to the right he saw the sign for the hayride. Past that was a haunted trail, “guaranteed to scare you!”. To the left was a corn maze. That interested him. He liked puzzles and the corn mazes were always fun. There was also a petting zoo to the left, face painting, palm reading, tarot card readings, more pumpkins, the funhouse, and more. 

“Make a decision,” He said. “Which one do we do first?”

“The funhouse,” Charlie declared. Gilda just rolled her eyes. She wasn’t arguing though.

“Fine, let’s go.” He led the way and after handing over some of the tickets Charlie had bought they went inside.

He had to admit, the funhouse was actually pretty fun. There was a haunted house that they went through before heading to the hayride. It turned out to be a wagon ride version of the haunted trail and monsters were popping out at various points. It was fun and the girls were giggling with every new monster that came out of the growing dark. He even jumped a time or two, laughing at his own silliness. 

They had fun doing almost everything, but he hung back when they went on the roller coasters. He watched them warily as he munched on cotton candy, eyeballing the screws every time the ride shook. When they were done with the rides they made their way over to the corn maze. There were two entrances. The one on the left had a sign stating that it was “easy” while the one on the right had a sign that said “nightmare”. He frowned at that one.

“What the hell? Why is this one easy but that one is supposed to be a nightmare?”

“Maybe there are monsters that pop out at you in that one,” Gilda guessed. 

“Yeah, maybe,” He said, his voice unsure. 

“Why, are you _scared_?” Charlie teased.

“No,” He pushed her away when she kept nudging his side. She laughed and slung an arm around Gilda’s shoulders.

“Well, I think we should go do the maze,” She declared.

“I don’t know,” Gilda looked nervously at the “nightmare” sign. “Can we do the easy one?”

“Of course,” Charlie kissed her cheek tenderly. “But I bet Dean won’t do the scary one. He’ll go with us to do the easy one.”

He knew what she was doing, she was stabbing him right in his ego, but he couldn’t _not_ rise to the challenge.

“I’ll go do it,” He said. “It’s _you_ that’s wimping out, not me!”

“Prove it,” Charlie’s eyes were bright as she challenged him. He shot her a dirty look as he moved towards the maze on the right. He didn’t want to admit that he was nervous but he didn’t want her to lord it over his head if he was too scared to do it. With Charlie and Gilda watching him, he stepped into the maze. He figured if worse came to worse he would just cut through the corn and come out in one direction or another. He’d probably end up on the easy side anyway.

Somehow it seemed to grow darker as he made the first turn. The sounds of all the games and the fairgoers disappeared and he was greeted with silence. He edged forward, following the path until it turned right. He made the turn and was met with a wall of corn. There was a path to the right and another to the left. The one on the right seemed to lead straight into the pitch-black night whereas the path on the left was somewhat lit. It was a no brainer. He turned left.

He’d made it a few yards before he heard something growl. The corn on his right started to rustle so he hurried on. There was another choice, right or straight. He figured right would lead him back in the direction of that dark path he’d opted _not_ to go down so he went straight. Something was on the ground up ahead. As he approached it he slowed. It was a body, a woman, badly decomposed with bite marks littering what remained of her flesh. It looked like something had eaten her. She was wearing a shredded, pink, satin dress and what looked like the remains of a white sash lay on the ground at her side. It wasn’t a hired actor though, like the ones that jumped out at them on the hayride. This had to be a really detailed prop. Pretty cool special effects, he thought as he moved past it. There was a chittering noise coming from the corn so he hurried on. He wanted out of this maze as soon as possible but he realized that by paying attention to the noises in the corn and trying to get away from them he’d gotten himself lost. The thought of cutting through the corn to reach the end was no longer an option. He wasn’t scared though. Yet.

The maze twisted and turned and he knew that by now he should have found the way out. It felt like it was going on forever and though he wasn’t scared, he was definitely anxious. The sounds coming from the corn were unnerving and every time he heard a growl, a hiss or that strange chittering he jumped and practically ran. He was almost positive something was following him and he encountered three more partially eaten corpses. By the time he’d reached the fourth, he stopped to really examine it. This one was male, and it was dressed in what remained of a leather jacket and jeans. What was curious was that the jeans were cuffed. The shoes looked like something out of the fifties. Was this supposed to be a greaser? He crouched down to get a better look, pulling out his phone to use the flashlight. As soon as he did he wished he hadn’t. This wasn’t a prop, it was an _actual_ dead body. He fell on his ass and scrambled away from it. How was this possible? Why was no one calling the police? Were _all_ the bodies he’d seen real? Why didn’t they smell rotten? It was like he couldn’t smell anything here. There was no smell of the corn stalks, of the packed earth he was walking on, and definitely not the dead body. He rushed to get up and started running. Before he could start blindly turning this way and that he stopped. Bite marks. Every single body he’d seen so far was partially eaten. Then there were the noises coming from the corn…

He wasn’t stupid. He was the sheriff of the Turtle Creek sheriff’s department and was not prone to panic. A look around told him there was another turn, straight or left this time. Both paths were dark so he had no choice but to pick one of them. There had already been so many twists and turns that he didn’t know the way back. Somewhere up ahead he heard a sound. It wasn’t coming from the corn, it was on the path. 

Someone was crying.

“Hello?” He called out. Distantly the crying stopped.

“Hello? Are you in the maze too?” The voice was male, clearly frightened. Scratch that; the guy was terrified.

“I am. Where are you?” Dean thought it sounded like he was on the path to the left so he slowly started down it. The growling in the corn grew louder but he refused to let it intimidate him. He was a card-carrying, gun-toting member of the NRA, thank you very much and he was armed with not one but _two_ guns, and three different knives. Maybe it wasn’t safe to come to a festival so well-armed but this was the south and he was a sheriff. He was _always_ armed.

“I don’t know,” The man’s voice hitched. “Can you come here? I’m scared to move.”

“Did you take the path to the left?” Dean asked.

“I think so,” Was the reply. “I can’t remember. I got all turned around and have no idea where I am.”

“Stay put, but keep talking so I can find you.” Dean took the left turn and slowly moved forward. It was so dark it was unnerving. He pushed the side of his jacket back and put a hand on his gun. Something growled low and deep behind him. Something that was inhuman, but like no animal he had ever heard before either. Lightning-fast he pulled the gun and whipped around, getting two shots off as the creature lunged at him, it’s razor sharp claws extended, ready to rip his flesh apart. Each flash lit up the dark path and he saw clearly what he was shooting at. It made his blood run cold. That wasn’t possible, werewolves didn’t exist. There was no way that thing was a guy in a costume though. The inhuman noises it was making, the snarling and snapping, and then the wailing when he shot it straight in the chest said the creature was indeed as real as he was. It had dropped like a brick but something in the corn was roaring in outrage, or maybe it was pain, he couldn’t be sure. With his gun still aimed at the creature, he pulled his phone out again and aimed the flashlight. Holy hell, this was a werewolf! He nudged it a few times with his foot but it didn’t move. In all the horror movies featuring such creatures when they were shot and the person approached it thinking it was dead it would lunge up and attack them. Nah, he wasn’t letting that happen. He put a bullet in its head, snapped a couple of pictures and started to move on. When he glanced back though, it was gone, only what looked like a pink pile of goo was left behind, or at least that’s what his phone’s flashlight led him to believe.

The man was practically screaming, begging to know what had happened and where he was. Dean moved towards his voice as he answered.

“Something came out of the corn,” He told him. “It was big, hairy, and it came at me, so I shot it.”

“A werewolf?” The man asked. 

“Yeah,” Dean made another left. “A werewolf.” He made another left. “That’s not possible though.”

“There are... _things_ in here with us,” The man’s voice was gravelly and under normal circumstances might even sound sexy, but right now it quivered with fear. Dean turned left, still following his voice and saw something up ahead. Very slowly he approached it. When he realized it was a man sitting on the ground with his knees pulled up to his chest he ran to him.

“Hey, are you who I was hearing?”

The man looked up and gasped in shock. “Oh! You _are_ real!”

Dean chuckled as the guy threw himself at him and hugged him tightly. It hadn’t been an hour since he’d entered the maze but it felt like an eternity. Seeing another person in here was comforting and he hugged him back.

“Yeah, I’m definitely real. Apparently you are too.”

“Where are you from? What’s your name? I’m Cas,” The man sat back again and looked up at him.

“I’m Dean, and I’m from Lawrence, Kansas originally but now I live in a small town about a half-hour outside Lawrence called Turtle Creek. What about you?”

“Salem, Illinois. You came all the way here to go to the festival?” Cas cocked his head. “Why?”

“What? I didn’t travel to Salem, we’re in Lawrence,” Dean was confused. The wide-eyed look of shock on Cas’ face was alarming. 

“Dean, I walked into the maze in _Salem, Illinois_ , not Lawrence Kansas. I’m in Salem right now.”

Dean stared at him, his entire body feeling numb as he tried to wrap his brain around what was happening. Werewolves, dead bodies that didn’t smell, and looked like they came from eras past, corn mazes in alternate realities. This was too much.

“I think that’s the least of our problems right now. We need to find a way out. If we end up in Lawrence I’ll personally drive you home to Salem,” He promised as he stood up. He offered a hand to Cas who took it and he hauled the man to his feet. Cas was reluctant to let go and he really didn’t blame him.

“They’ll chase you and try to separate you from the people you’re with. I met some others a while back. I told them to stay together, and I tried to go with them but they got scared and ended up running in different directions when one of those monsters jumped out at us. It grabbed the blonde girl. She was in a pink dress. Her costume was supposed to be a pageant winner. It had ripped her chest and face open before it pulled her into the corn. Please don’t leave me if they jump out again.” He begged. Dean gave his hand a squeeze but didn’t let go. He had his gun ready in case something else attacked. 

“Stay away from the corn. Stick to the middle. If you see something, let me know,” He said. Cas was practically plastered to his side as they started to move.

“Do you have any idea what’s happening?” Cas asked. “Because I have a theory.”

“Not really. This is completely illogical and impossible, or at least it _was_ an hour ago. What is your theory?” Dean was glad Cas wasn’t the kind of man that was hung up on being this close and holding hands with another man. Too much toxic masculinity, that’s what Charlie was always saying. She said it affected queer men as much as it did straight ones. God, what he wouldn’t give to see her and Gilda again!

“We entered this maze at different geographical locations, and yet we’re in here together. I think that somehow, we entered the maze but we’re now outside space and time. Or it’s possible we’re in an alternate universe. How else could we explain the werewolves, or the giant rat monsters?” 

Dean whipped his head around to look at him. “I’m sorry, giant _what_?!”

“You haven’t seen them yet?” Cas moved closer, clinging to Dean’s side like velcro. “They’re in the corn too. I got chased by one but I managed to lose it.”

“No, I haven’t. If I do, it’s getting a face full of lead,” Dean said. “You mentioned being outside of space and time. Do you think time is happening differently here?”

“I don’t know. What year is it for you?” Cas asked.

“2020,” Dean replied. “How about you?”

“Yes, it’s 2020 for me as well. That doesn’t mean that time isn’t moving differently here. Watch out!” Cas suddenly yanked him away from a broken stalk of corn that was sticking out. “The corn is a monster in itself. Its leaves are as sharp as a razor blade. You don’t want to cut yourself.” He pointed to his own arm where his shirt had been slashed and blood was caked to his skin and the fabric.

Dean moved carefully around the corn but stopped to observe it. There was blood on the leaves. Careful not to touch the leaf itself, he touched the blood with the tip of his finger. It was tacky, at least a few hours old.

“Someone passed through here a few hours ago. Maybe it was those kids you mentioned.”

“Maybe. After they ran off I never saw them again. I wasn’t even sure what direction they were going in,” Cas said. They moved on, taking another left and halfway down that path the corn began to rustle ahead of them. Dean pushed Cas behind him and aimed his gun. He immediately realized that this was a decoy. Whatever was going to attack was behind them. He whipped around, grabbing Cas’ shirt and swinging him back behind him just as something big and black came lumbered out of the corn. It wasn’t as large as the werewolf but it was hideous. It looked like a human, but not quite. It was more like a Picasso painting than an actual person, with it’s bloated and half-decayed body. It stumbled awkwardly towards them until Dean put a bullet in its head. Again something in the corn roared. It sounded like it was in pain.

“What was that thing? It wasn’t a giant rat,”

“I think it was a zombie,” Cas replied. 

“No way, zombies aren’t real,” Dean stared at the body and thought that maybe he was wrong on that one.

“And the werewolf you shot made perfect sense?”

“Good point. Moving on.” He grabbed Cas’ hand and they started moving again.

They were alert, flinching at every little rustle of the corn, every moan, every groan. To his credit, Cas wasn't grasping blindly at him, distracting him in his terror and need to be close but was instead sticking quietly by his side and holding his free hand tightly. Something was definitely following them, but it was simultaneously all around them too.

"Do you have your cell?" Dean asked after they'd made a handful more turns. The idea was to keep going left and when that wasn't an option, go straight until they could turn left again. 

"Yes, but it doesn't work in here," Cas pulled it out of his pocket and pressed the button to light the screen up. It said no signal. Dean stopped and after getting Cas to let go he pulled out his own phone. It said the same thing. With a few muttered expletives he put it away again, this time in the inner pocket of his coat, right next to his spare ammo. The pocket zipped shut so he made sure it was and grasped Cas' hand again. 

"I don't have a plan on how to get out, do you?" Cas asked. 

"Not yet, I'm still thinking," Dean nodded at the next left turn and they cautiously made their way down that path. "I'm curious, how did _you_ manage to not get killed?"

"I'm a marathon runner," Cas replied. "I've run my entire life, distance _and_ track. Cross country in elementary and middle school, then added on track in high school, continued with both in college and started doing marathons. So far I've been able to outrun these things. I'm not sure we've seen everything in here though."

"That's a given, I haven't seen the rat things you mentioned," Dean pointed out. "But I'm thinking they're responsible for the bite marks I saw on some of the bodies."

"How many bodies did you see?"

"At least five now," He nodded to one lying in the middle of the path up ahead. They slowed as they approached it and he aimed his gun at it. Something felt...off. "Do you feel that?"

"It's silent," Cas looked around nervously. "There aren't any growls coming from the corn."

Dean clutched his hand and drew him back and away from the body. 

"What are you doing? Is there something wrong with it? Is it one of _them_?" Cas whispered. 

"This feels like a trick," He explained. "It feels wrong, the way everything went stone silent suddenly. It makes me think even more that something is trying to distract us. So yes, I think that's one of them." He leaned towards the corn on his right. It seemed like something inside it was shimmering, or glittering maybe. He squinted, trying to see it more clearly. It clicked suddenly that what he was seeing was the lights of the festival. 

"What?" Cas looked over at him when Dean started shaking his hand to get his attention. 

"Look! It's the fest!"

He looked past Dean and into the corn at what looked like glittering lights. Something felt wrong about that too. Behind them something growled. Ahead of them the body started to move. 

"That's the way out," Dean pointed into the corn. "The fest is right through there. We cut through there and pop out on the other side of this maze."

"No," Cas held him back before he could run off. "It's a trick, it _wants_ you to go into the corn. I think… it _is_ the corn. We're not being followed because it's all around us. We can't make the turns necessary to get out of here because it is constantly changing the maze. It's showing us what it thinks we should be scared of, but it’s not showing it to us right. That zombie, did it look right to you? Like something you’d see in a horror movie, or more like something a child might dream up? And the werewolf, how did it look?”

“It looked weird,” Dean admitted. “Scary as hell, but still weird. What are you saying?”

“Did the bodies smell at all?”

“No,” Dean shook his head. “I thought that was the strangest part of all. There was no smell, no insects, nothing. They were rotting, but it was like how someone without experience at seeing dead bodies might imagine one, not how they would actually be. What are you saying? The maze _is_ the monster?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. We’re being followed, right? We can both feel it, and yet things are appearing in front of us and from behind at the same time, like it’s trying to trap us. If you try to go into the corn I think it will eat you. It will slice you to pieces and devour you. Don’t go in there. The fest isn’t on the other side, it just wants you to _think_ it is,” Cas had a thought. It was a shot in the dark, no pun intended, but it was worth a try. He leaned in, pressing his lips to Dean’s ear and whispering as softly as he could while still having Dean hear him. “Shoot the corn.”

Dean pulled back to look at him, his brows furrowing. Cas nodded and watched as he lifted the gun and swung it around to face the corn on his right. He let off three quick shots and something roared around them. Then as they watched, the corn seemed to ripple as it began to bleed. It shuddered around them as the groans and roars of pain grew louder and louder. Dean grabbed his hand and started running. Up ahead they could see light. It was faint at first but the closer they got, the brighter it became. Something behind them was racing after them so they ran faster, practically diving into the light. They landed on their stomachs in the dirt, neither man moving for a good thirty seconds. Slowly Dean pushed up onto his knees and looked around. It was the festival, yet it was different. He helped Cas to sit up and when they looked behind themselves, the maze was gone. There was a pumpkin patch in its place. Cas was still rattled and he held on tightly to the sleeve of Dean’s jacket. People were looking at them curiously but most didn’t seem to really care.

He stood up and pulled Cas to his feet. They looked around at the people, the vendors, the pumpkins that were absolutely everywhere. This was _not_ the festival in Lawrence.

“Hey, is this Salem?” He leaned close so only Cas could hear him.

“No, I don’t know where we are,” Cas held fast to Dean’s coat. “Do you really think we’re out? This is us _outside_ of the maze?”

“Yeah, we’re out. Take a whiff,” He sniffed the air. Fritters and elephant ears, buttered corn and popcorn all met his nose. The air smelled delicious. “And listen.” The sound of children laughing, of carnival music and people talking filled the air. They were definitely out. He still looked at every person that passed them, as though one of them might attack suddenly. 

“Oh thank God!” Cas’ entire body shuddered with relief. He leaned his head on Dean’s shoulder and attempted to steady his breath. “I am never, _ever_ stepping foot in a maze again!”

Dean pulled his phone out and saw that he had a half dozen calls and texts from Charlie and from Gilda. Cas peeked over his shoulder when he saw Gilda’s picture.

“Girlfriend? Or wife, maybe?”

“Gilda? Nah, she’s my best friend’s girlfriend. I came to the fest with them. Charlie dared me to go into the maze alone. She can be a real asshole,” Dean was glad the girls had taken the easy path and not gone with him into the nightmare one. The calls and texts were ones he was happy to receive. It meant they were _alive_ . He put the phone to his ear to listen to the voicemail Charlie had left him. “ _Now_ they’re worried. They came out of the easy maze and found that it was the _only_ maze. They panicked and started calling and texting me.”

Cas pulled his own phone out and laughed when he saw how many calls he’d missed. “My brother and sister did pretty much the same thing. I came with my older brother and his wife and my sister and her husband. They didn’t want to do the maze with me so I went in alone. I’m always freaking alone,” He muttered the last part as he texted his brother back.

“No, you’re not alone,” Dean smiled reassuringly. “We both went through this. Even if no one else believes us, _we_ know it happened.” 

Cas smiled softly and looked around. The air was cooler which led him to believe they were further north. “Where do you think we are?”

“Parsonville, Missouri,” Dean replied. Cas was about to ask him how he knew when he spotted the booth Dean was pointing at. Tee shirts were on sale, advertising that this was the town’s thirty-first Autumn festival. When Dean started walking towards it Cas hurried to keep up. He picked a tee-shirt up and held it out for Cas to see. “What do you say we grab a souvenir?”

Cas chuckled as he accepted the shirt. “No one will believe this, even with a shirt but as a personal reminder to never step foot in a maze again? Yes, I will take this. I’ll wear it too.”

Dean grabbed a matching shirt and paid for them both. He got Cas to pose with him as they held the shirts up and he took a selfie to send to Charlie. He forwarded the picture to Cas so he could send it to his brother and sister too.

“So now what?” Cas asked.

“Now? We find a motel and hunker down for the night. It’s late, it’s cold, I’m tired, and I’m still on edge, you know? A hot shower, some sleep, and then in the morning we figure out where the nearest car rental place is and we go home. Sound like a plan?”

“It sounds great, actually,” Cas ran his teeth over his lower lip for a second before leaning closer. “Not to sound like a wimp but would it be ok if we shared a room? I’m not entirely sure I can be alone right now.”

“I was planning on it. I don’t want to be alone either,” Dean laughed. “So, how does dinner with a lowly county sheriff with newly earned PTSD sound? Might I interest you in the local diner cuisine? Provided we can find a twenty-four hour one around here. Otherwise, it’s chips from a vending machine and bottled water.”

Cas laughed too, feeling a little bit of the tension beginning to bleed away. When they weren’t running for their lives Dean was charming and quite personable.

“As long as you don’t mind having dinner with a lowly school principal with PTSD who will probably have nightmares for years after this,”

“I would be honored to have dinner with you,” Dean bowed at the waist which made him smile wide. 

“Then let's go. I’m done with festivals for a long time to come,” Cas started walking and he fell in step beside him.

“I am in complete agreement,” Dean paused at the entrance to the fairgrounds and looked back at where the maze had been. The sign labeling it as the nightmare maze had been more accurate than he could have ever imagined when he’d stepped foot into it. Cas had it right. He was never stepping foot in another maze and he doubted he would be attending another festival again, at least for several more years. As they stepped out onto the street they both breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a terrifying night that they were eager to forget. 

Almost as an afterthought, he remembered the pictures he’d taken of the werewolf. Who would believe _that_ ? He had no physical proof and photos could be doctored. Maybe it was best if he didn’t think too hard about it. Right now all he wanted was some good conversation about anything that _didn’t_ pertain to the maze, a burger, and a good night’s sleep. No more monsters, ever again if he had anything to say about it!


	2. After

When Dean walked through his front door he was met with three sets of eyes staring at him and it made him almost jump right out of his skin. 

“What the hell? You know, I arrest people for this shit,” He complained as he shut the door.

“What  _ happened _ ?” Charlie demanded. “You went in the maze and when we got out the one you were in was just  _ gone _ . How does that happen?”

“I have absolutely no idea, but it was terrifying. I’m still having nightmares about it,” He admitted as he shrugged his jacket off. His brother, who had joined in worrying with the girls snorted when he saw the shirt Dean was wearing.

“That’s where you ended up? Was it like a vortex or something?” He asked.

“Or something,” Dean hung his coat in the closet and sat down on the couch to take his boots off. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before. That maze? It wasn’t really a maze. I’m not exactly sure what it was but it was alive. It was trying to  _ eat _ us. There were dead bodies but they weren’t really there. It was trying to scare us or something.”

“Why? Why would it want to scare you?” Gilda had joined Charlie on the loveseat while Sam sat down next to his brother on the couch.

“Maybe you taste better when you’re scared,” Sam suggested. “Like in the Stephen King novel, It.”

“Or scaring us left us disoriented and easier to attack. That’s my theory, anyway. It was hesitant to full-on attack me because I wasn’t scared or running around blindly. I stopped to think, I didn’t back down and I was armed. I shot a werewolf and a zombie, but they weren’t exactly right. There was something wrong with them. Cas figured that the maze itself was alive so instead of shooting the creatures that were coming out of the corn, he told me to shoot at the corn. It started to bleed, a light showed up, we took off running for it. We ended up dropped in scenic Parsonville, Missouri.”

“It was scenic?” Gilda whispered softly. 

“No, it wasn’t,” Dean looked at her like she was nuts as he pulled his boots off and sat back. “I would have died if it hadn’t been for him. I thought I saw the fair through the corn. I’d forgotten that the leaves were like razors and would have ripped me up if I’d run into them. He held me back.”

“Is that when he told you to shoot it?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah. I swear, I’ve never run so fast in my life. I wouldn’t have cared if we got dropped in Siberia as long as we were out of there,” Dean pulled his phone out and opened the pictures of the werewolf.

“You took pictures?” Sam leaned over to see them.

“I did of the first werewolf. I don’t know why I even pulled my phone out, but I did. Maybe I’m just used to photographing evidence. But it was real, we went through it. Cas was hurt more than he’d realized by the corn when it slashed his arm. I actually had to take him to the ER to get stitches.”

“I’m sorry that happened. I’m sorry I dared you,” Charlie sounded genuinely remorseful. He gave a quick nod at her.

“I’m not doing that shit again. Don’t challenge me to anything else.”

“I won’t,” She promised as she crossed her heart. “Let me see the pictures.”

He passed the phone to her so she and Gilda could see them.

“Cas is ok though?” Sam asked. “Where did you say he’s from?”

“Salem, Illinois. Yes, he’s ok. Shaken up, but ok. He had nightmares really bad that night, but so did I. We put on a Disney movie and fell asleep to that. I rented the car Saturday morning and we made the drive to his house. I was exhausted so I spent a couple of nights at his place and then made the drive home.”

“Uh, isn’t Salem like, in the opposite direction from here?” 

Dean picked at a piece of lint on his shirt. Sam didn’t understand what they had been through. It was more than that though.

“Yes it is, but I promised him I would drive him home. He didn’t want to make the trip alone and I wasn’t going to make him.”

“Did you have sex?” Sam wrinkled his nose and frowned at him. Dean just rolled his eyes. Why did his thoughts always immediately go to sex?

“No. We could have, but we didn’t. He’s a cool guy and he says I’m interesting. Well,  _ hot _ too, but he finds me interesting. I find him interesting too. He’s coming to visit over winter break. Oh, and he’s hot. Like smoking hot. Mostly though, we bonded over the hell we went through together. I made a friend, but he did too.”

“I can’t believe you were inside of some kind of creature. Things like that don’t exist,” Sam shook his head and frowned. “I don’t know what it was, but monsters can’t possibly exist.”

“Well, believe what you want, but there was most definitely some kind of monster and we were transported to a completely different state. All in the span of an hour. Somehow, we teleported. We wouldn’t have lived if I didn’t have the training as I do. I’m just glad I was carrying. There was nothing in there but corn, or what we  _ thought _ was corn, and that would have ripped us apart.”

Dean sighed and leaned his head back against the cushions. He wanted to change out of his clothes and get some sleep. First though, he needed everyone to leave.

“We’ll get going. It’s late and I know you’re tired. We just wanted to see for ourselves that you were alright,” Gilda came over to give him a hug before heading for the door. Charlie did the same, making sure to hand him back his phone.

“That was wild, dude, so realistic! I’m just glad you’re back and that you’re ok,”

Dean shooed his brother out too and locked the door. He made his way to his bedroom and stripped out of his clothes. Once he had gone through his nightly routine and climbed into bed his phone chimed with a text. He pulled up his messages and smiled when he saw it was from Cas.

**Cas:** Did you get home ok? 

**Dean:** I’m home now, safe and sound. Are you ok?

**Cas:** I’m a little anxious, this is my first night alone but yes, I’m ok. I will be fine.

**Dean:** If the nightmares get bad just text me. I’ll talk you through them. Goodnight, Cas.

**Cas:** Goodnight, Dean.

As he put his phone to charge and slid down to get comfortable he chose to think about Cas. His sense of humor, his blue eyes, his laugh. It was infinitely preferable to visions of werewolves and dead bodies. He’d never stop wondering about the maze though. Would it pop up somewhere else? Or had he really killed it? Could it even be killed? 

As his eyes drifted shut and sleep began to take him, his thoughts went to the maze instead of where he wanted them to go. He wanted to dream of holding Cas in his arms but instead, he saw that werewolf again. That thing was going to haunt his dreams for the rest of his life, he was sure of it.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

**_October 31st~_ **

“Oooh, that maze says  _ nightmare _ . Should we do it?” The blonde of their group, Amber asked as she pointed at the sign. The one on the left said it was easy. Nightmare sounded more fun. She nudged one of the other girls, Rosa to get her attention.

“Ay, cabrona, what is your problem?” Rosa complained when her drink sloshed in the cup and some of it splashed against the black dress she was wearing. Why on earth she’d decided to be a vampire, she had no idea. She could barely walk in it with as skin tight as it was. “Whatever, you want to do the hard maze, then let’s do the hard maze.”

It didn’t take a whole lot of convincing for her friends to go right and step into the “nightmare”. It was going to be  _ so _ much fun, she was sure of it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I do hope you enjoyed it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed it. :)


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